Out of the Pot and into the Fire: Part 3
Characters Involved:
Jinora, a Long Patrol fighter
Atreyu, a bard
Rioko, a bouncer
The Swamplands
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The smell of stagnant water fills the air, leaving the atmosphere of the swamp thick and humid. The short spindly trees which surround the area rising like crooked fingers from the mudflats.
Weaving pathways of earth coated in dark grass and algae promise what may be pathways of safety through the swamplands. In most places the mud of the swamp can reach as far as a beasts waist whilst at other points it is barely ankle height.
Still it would be treacherous and deadly to attempt crossing the larger expanse of swamp for sinkholes and pits wait to lure the unwary to their death whilst in other places the mud itself will suck a beast down to their doom.
Stick to the pathways, backtrack and work your way slowly through the swamps and try another path, you risk your life if you stray into the wide, deep expanses of mud and water that form this cheerless swampland.
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The swamp, by design, is warmer than the nearby beach and other dwellings are in the winter; but it still gets pretty dang cold. However, the cold is preferable to what the warmer hours bring with them, for as the sun climbs higher in the sky, chasing the frost from the ground and warming the air, the snake makes his visits. The trio have been trapped in the pit for almost a week, and watching the reptile's last meal slowly flatten to nothing in his midsection is a daily torture. Each visit is a reminder of their impending peril, and Jinora is getting pretty sick of it. Atreyu's knife, hidden in her boot, has been a small comfort to her, though she still finds herself pacing the confines of the pit, punching walls, making sad attempts at climbing out, and - mostly - just trying to keep herself sane.
As usual, Atreyu has been keeping his strength by resting against the wall in a slumped position. Optimism has been replaced by depression and his body suggests such. His head is tucked down between his knees with his hands resting on the back of his neck as he slowly breathes in and out. He has barely touched the food that the snake has offered them, having decided long ago that he refuses to make himself a meal. He would rather give the snake nothing to take enjoyment in, that, or die of starvation.
Rioko licks her chops in merryment, picking the meat clean off of the bone she was feasting on. "Say what you will for our host. He has a fine taste." The fox laughs bitterly. Being the nervous eater that she is the fox lapped up what ever food was not eaten, causing her to swell. She figured it was inevitable anyway. She was by far the fattest, and now certainly heavier due to her desire to not die with an empty stomach. "So, any new ideas today? I admit that I lost hope when my idea to wait for eagles to come rescue us didn't pan out..."
Watching her friend's spirits sink has, ironically, lifted her own. As a member of the esteemed Long Patrol, it is her /duty/ to get them out of here - and they are not going to do that with low morale. Moving to squat by Atreyu, she lays a paw, gently, on his shoulder. "Please eat somethin', we'll need strength t'fight back..." Rioko seems to have the right idea. "Only thin' t'do is...wait an'...y'know, 'ope the adrenaline does its work, y'know?" She answers, looking up at their circle of sky. Any minute now...Every rustle of the wind sounds like the ominous, dry slither of their captor, and even Jin is jumping at small sounds. "It'll be 'ardah t'take on th'three of us at once, so th'trick is t'just...not get separated." Which, she assumes, is going to be easier said than done.
"When the snake comes in here, it is better to separate." Atreyu mumbles to himself from between his knees. "That dumb fox made herself an easy target, when it should have been me. Rioko is stronger than me, she should have cut down on the food to appear less appetizing. Still.. I will try and distract her. Rioko will try and hold it down while you cut it's throat." Lifting his head slowly, he peers up at her. "Using me as bait is still the best course of action."
This comment ellicits a cackle from Rioko. "Don't. Just...don't." Crossing her legs Rioko leans against the wall, rubbing her bloated pot belly. "We all know how this was going to end even when the lizards caught us. The snake is obviously going to-" she gulps. "It's going to kill me and then devour me first because I'm the tastiest meal here. I can claim that I can try and fight it off, stab it in the jaw, what have you, but we all know that I'm only going to serve as a distraction."
Despite her smile tears well at Rioko's eyes, "But, before the snake comes back. I...I need to... tell you something Jin." The fox leans forward, "I'm sorry. Ok? For everything. It was my own dang fault. All of it. And if i didn't let my own stubborn pride get in the way, I may have had a good friend..." Rioko sniffles.
Narrowing her eyes, Jinora huffs. Trying to will him out of his plan has, obviously, been for naught. She refuses to slump, and instead resumes her pacing. "/If/ th'knife can cut through its throat...those scales look tough. It's /head/, 'owevah..." But she freezes at Rioko's words. Now /this/ is something that she never expected. Unsure of how to respond to the fox's outburst of emotion and regret, she merely kneels near her and wraps the vulpine in a hug. "Why don' y'treat me t'somethin' at th' Tavern when we get out, then? Because we /are/." The doe affirms for the thousandth time. "Now -" She opens her mouth to add to their 'plan', to admonish Atreyu on his ideas of self-sacrifice, and to give Rioko some small word of comfort - but a sound from behind runs her blood cold and silences the words in her throat. "How touching thisss isssss..." The pair of great, yellow eyes stare down at them, a smirk curving along that awful maw. "I am famisssshhhed, my petssss."
Shooting a glare towards the fox, Atreyu pushes himself up to his feet and stares upwards at the snake as he gives his shoulders a rocking back and forth to loosen up the joints. "Well, I'm ready to go." He rasps upwards as he steps in front of the two females, cracking his neck side to side. "So, let's get this over with. You've kept us waiting long enough. I've already gave up so I may as well go first. You want an appetizer before the main course?" He says, lifting up one paw and flipping her the bird.
The vixen let's out a terrified shriek at the sight of the snake. Before she can plead, beg, or insult the creature the hare went and did that. Still, after spending a week with the hares, Rioko isn't too keen on seeing them die...then again, she isn't too keen on dieing either. The fox leans against the wall, unable to bring herself to speak. Her knees wobble together.
It was all easy to talk about being ready to die, but facing her end was a different matter entirely. "I...I'm not ready..."
"Atreyu!" Jin finds her voice, though it is tight and strangled. She had convinced herself that the buck was all talk but... "Why russsshhh a good thing, little one?" The snake croons, lazily rising with a chuckle, deep in his throat. "Sssssso brave, but you will die sssscreaming." The fox - now that is the reaction that he was hoping for. Jinora, trembling despite herself, reaches out her paws and slides one into Atreyu's and the other into Rioko's, giving them both a squeeze before releasing. It's going to be okay. "Bringing ssssnacksss together...it issss what I do besssst." The serpent laughs again, swaying back and forth, judging the distances and planning his strike. But he isn't rushing his joy, he is savoring every moment of it. The fear tenses the meat - while, for some, this ruins the taste, he feels that it introduces a whole new flavor entirely. It is a subtle art. Jin, feigning a slump against the wall, surreptitiously slips the knife from her boot and into the now ragged sleeve of her jacket.
Squinting one eye shut, Atreyu jerks his hand away from Jinora's, then snaps back at the snake. "Yeah? If you want to hear me scream, you got to /earn/ it. This isn't even the scariest moment of my life." He says with a smirk upwards to him. "I watched bandits kill my family in front of me. I watched their limbs get chopped off as I hid under the floorboards of my home. I've lived a life on the streets in the cold, sleeping in snow with barely any clothes on. What are you gonna do to top that? Eat me?" He blurts out a loud laugh. "You're a joke! Come at me, bro!" He throws his arms outwards towards the snake, giving a wide, bolstering grin. "I just don't have all damn day."
"Atreyu..." The fox looks from the brave hare to Jin trying to comfort them in there last moments. She pauses, looking to the ground, before stepping opposite the pit to the others. "Snake! You there. Over there." Rioko waves her paws in the air. "Ignore him. He's hardly worth the effort to eat. I'm...I'm the main course, remember. How about we make a deal...ok? You let them go and...and..." What will the fox do? She has nothing to bargin with, "I'll make sure you get the meal of a life time, wot? I'll let you keep me here and turn me into a right propper feast. No need to eat them at all. In fact you probibly won't have room fer em after you finish me off anyway..." She adds bitterly.
The doe isn't used to battling alongside those who don't have that strict military mindset. This does, indeed, complicate things. However, the snake only laughs. "Thisssss issss cccertainly the bravessst clutch I have sssnared." He circles the pit, his body wrapping around the rim of it, watching them. Inspecting them. Jinora doesn't know who to stop, and she can feel the tears welling in her eyes - a salty conglomeration of frustration, fear, and dismay - but the anger welling up in her breast is drowning out everything else. "Well, you take y'time, then!" She shouts up, watching the two trying to vie for the spot of initial meal. With a final chuckle, the snake circles once more, twice more, and then - fast as lightening - strikes at Atreyu, descending like a lance into the pit. "Then I will put you out of your misssssery, my appetizzzer." Jin rips the knife free, and lunges as the scaly behemoth crashes into the pit among them.
Tensing on the balls of his feet, Atreyu sways side to side as he limbers his knees up. Despite his bravado, he appears to be sizing the situation up, gauging how the snake moves. The sick smile drops form his face immediately as he senses the moment, then leaps upwards and back with a spring to his step as the snake's head snaps at him. Landing on top of the snake, he throws a hard, open fingered punch down into the left eye socket of the snake, rewarding himself with a gooey pop as he screams his rage at him. "NOW! RIOKO! HOLD HIM DOWN!"
The Vixen let's out a paniced gasp. Tensing as she waits for fangs to pierce her hide. Fangs that never come. She hesitates, but only for a moment before leaping at the snake. The hare's may have to resort to weapons and martial arts, but nature blessed the preditory beasts with their own natural weapons. Teeth to sink into the snakes side and claws to latch onto it as the fox tries wrap herself into a ball around the serpent.
And just like that, the snake is flailing in every direction. His length makes things difficult, and as the beasts make their surprise attack, he lets out a hiss of surprise and tries to shake them loose. Jinora, making a run for the action, is caught in the middle by his tail and finds herself thrown bodily against the wall with an 'umph'. While she collects her wits and catches her breath, the snake wraps himself around Atreyu. "YOUUUUUU" but with Rioko's fangs - and substantial weight - are keeping him from making the deadly strike. And then Jin is there, she charges in with a shout and leaps, wrapping both arms around the snake's neck, the knife clutched in her teeth. "I WILL CRUSSSSHHHH YOUR BONESSSS AND SSSWALLOW YOU ALIVE! I WILL DIGESSST YOU SSSSLOWLY!"
"AND I WILL CRAP DOWN YOUR THROAT AS YOU DO!" Atreyu calls out as he yanks his hand out of the eye socket, holding a fist full of eyeball. With a loud yell, he opens his jaws wide, then buries his sharp buck teeth down into the neck of the snack despite the squeeze he feels around his thin frame.
Rioko briefly thinks about all the times she has almost gotten into a fight with these mad, violent, and half crazed hares. She is suddenly glad she did not...
Despite her weight Rioko looses her grip, tumbling away from the snake and rolling to all fours, snarling at the serpent.
With a scream, the snake rears back, slamming back against the wall and ripping himself free of the buck's grip. Jinora is smashed against the wall as he does. There's an audible crunch, and she lets out a short scream of pain, but holds tight. The snake, half-blinded by Atreyu and made careless in his throes of rage, is constricting - trying to crush the buck trapped within his coils. He swings his tail at the fox as he throws himself against the wall once more to shake the doe from his neck. Jinora reaches a paw around to stab a finger into the now empty eye-socket, eliciting another shriek from the snake. He begins to beat her back against the wall with renewed vigor. Her left leg hanging uselessly beneath her, she pulls her paw free of the snake's empty eye socket to clutch the knife, poising it in the center of his head. Another swing is aimed at the fox. The next time he throws himself back...
The fox skids to the side as the tail comes crashing down where she was and sending dirt flying in all directions. The fox is however unable to avoid the up swing that sends her sailing up and over the walls of the pit with a loud yipe.
The irony is lost on Rioko upon landing head first into a batch of mud up top where the vixen continues to lay, still and unconcious with her feet and tail pulled up over her head.
As the snake rips itself free from his teeth, Atreyu spits out a mouthful of scales and meat with blood covering his face. As he whips himself about, he pushes down upon the snake's body, squeezing himself out before he can be crushed within it's coils. With a topple to the ground, he watches Rioko go flying, then winces visibly at the sound of Jinora's scream of pain. Rolling up to his feet, he wobbles to one side, then snags a rock in his paw and lunches forward, whipping his hand in an overhead throw when the snake opens his mouth to hiss, lobbing the sharp stone down into it's throat.
Jinora jabs the knife into the side of the snake's neck as he leans back, sputtering the rock out of his throat with a dry, raspy choke; but it isn't enough. Screeching his vows of revenge and hatred, he swings back to try and, at least, crush the doe to death. The hare has pulled the knife free, and she re-poises the knife against the back of the serpent's head, and as he throws his weight against the wall of the hole, he drives it into his head, the force pummeling even the hilt in. The point juts out of the roof of his mouth as he hangs, shocked, a moment. His body jerks, twitches - nerves severed, functions lost; he twitches, his body contorting and jerking before going rigid and sinking to the floor with a heavy 'thud'. Jin is thrown from his body, landing in a heap on the ground - screaming as the weight crashes onto her injured leg. It takes her a moment to stand, and when she does, she sways there a moment, staring open-mouthed at the dead serpent. "Y- Ah....Are y'okay?" She limps to the buck, leaning heavily on the snake for support. "He - th' -...."
Coughing out a mouthful of blood, Atreyu makes his way over to Jinora with a bit of a limp. He throws his arms around her to hold her up, then leans in to press his mouth firmly against hers for a kiss. He holds his breath, clamping his eyes shut as his fingers grip into the back of her shirt. As he leans back, he lets out a shaky breath. "I love you. You're th' most beautiful girl in th' world. I'm also gonna carry you outta this pit on mah' back."
Jinora is about a three-quarters conscious, and it takes the doe several seconds to grasp what is happening - she is still in fight mode, every cell in her body wrapped around itself and ready to throw her into action. Mmm blood. She allows herself to sink into the embrace and 'mrmphs', trying to still herself, taking deep breaths. "Ah - y' -" She exhales. "Ah...well, told y'you weren't dyin'." She stutters out with a shaky laugh. "L-Let's..." She nods, pulling free and starting to scramble up the coils, struggling to keep the pressure off her leg. "R-Rioko?" Her determination to make it out of the pit on her own is, for her, more of a matter of pride, adrenaline, and eagerness to leave, rather than a slight on the buck who just /ripped a snake's eye out/. She finds the fox, unconscious. "She's alive!" Jin shouts down to him, her voice cracking. They all made it out. They all made it out alive. She turns, spying the Mountain for the first time in, what felt like, years.
Giving her a wide grin, Atreyu lets her go, then heads back around to grab the fox and haul her up. It takes a long time for him to get her to the top of the pit, but he finally drags her out and lets her flop to the ground. Wheezing, he thumps over himself, staring at the sky with a glazed expression on his face, slapping a hand across his eyes. "See, mah' plan worked." He grins in amusement, despite the plan not working all that well. "Jin yah' broke yah leg." He says as he eyes her a bit more fully now. "Lemmie carry yah, on mah' back. Yah' can't walk on that."
"/None/ of tha' seemed planned." Jinora manages to chuff a laugh out. "Jus' - Let me walk a ways." She stares at the Mountain. "We've been...standin' aroun' doin' nothin' an' Ah jus' 'ave t'walk." She clutches a low hanging branch and rips it, bodily, from the tree. "Sorry." She mutters to it, and stabs the branch against the ground. It's crude and will not be ample support over a long distance, but the renewed ability to walk and move and be /freaking alive and not in a hole/ is proving to be perfectly capable of overwhelming her emotional capacity. "You cin carry Rioko 'till she wakes up...Then y'cin take a break by carryin' me." This laugh is more earnest. "But...let me give you a 'and with 'er." Aw, poor Rio.
